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California has Coachella, Tennessee has Bonnaroo, Chicago has Lollapalooza, England has Glastonbury, Scotland has T in the Park…and now, Poughkeepsie will have ViCEPOKalypse. You read correctly—Vassar will get its very own bona fide music festival on May 4 at the Ballantine Field, organized by Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE). The event will take place on the last day of classes.
“It will be the last hurrah before the final stretch,” said ViCE Finance Director Nick Marmet ’10.
Over 10 bands will play from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on two separate stages. The roster will include diverse musical styles, covering everything from psychedelic rock to traditional Sierra Leonean music. ViCE is hiring local vendors to give out free food, which will include treats such as ice cream and Molé Molé tacos.
“It will make the experience accessible to the entire student body,” wrote ViCE director Peter Denny ’10 of the music festival ambience in an e-mailed statement.
ViCEPOKalypse got its unique name from incoming ViCE Assistant Director Sarah Morrison ’11, whose creative play on words embodies much of what the event is about. The “ViCe” and “POK” embody collaboration between ViCE and the City of Poughkeepsie on the event’s organization, while the “alypse” symbolizes the fun and explosiveness of the occasion.
Indeed, ViCEPOKalypse will be a unique music festival, even though it is small when compared with other festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
“This isn’t an enormous event. It’s more home-grown,” said Marmet.
He also added that the organizers at ViCE want to capture a “European music festival vibe” on par with the storied and oldest still-existing festival, Reading and Leeds in England. True to traditional music festival form, ViCE will hand out performance schedules and ensure that the music never stops until the evening’s end.
You won’t see any bands on the level of Radiohead or Flaming Lips headlining ViCEPOKalypse, much less Lady Gaga or other radio chart-toppers.
“We’re working on a tight budget so we couldn’t look for marquee names,” explained Marmet. “Instead of getting names students could recognize, we got ones they’ll recognize in two years.”
Considering ViCE’s track record thus far, he is likely to be right. Head of ViCE Music Christine Yu ’10 provided an example in an e-mailed statement: “Passion Pit opened for Broken Social Scene early last year, and we got a lot of good feedback about them. Now, they’re HUGE.” Other bands that played at Vassar before they skyrocketed have included Dirty Projectors and Vampire Weekend.
The performers slotted to play on May 4 include JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, which Marmet described as a “retro Motown soul act,” and Twin Sister, who play “dream psych pop.” Also confirmed are “spiritual” singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm, who has opened for Mountain Goats and indie violinist Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy), as well as Screaming Females and the critically acclaimed band Dom. The last group is currently booked solid into the summer after positive reviews from the indie webzine Pitchfork and will play other college’s concerts, including New York University and Bennington College.
“All of the bands coming are really psyched,” said Marmet.
The festival’s lack of name recognition could discourage attendance, yet ViCE is actively seeking ways to encourage campus-wide interest. “Personally, 99 percent of the music I listen to was probably at one point or another number one on TRL or the Billboard Top 40 chart,” Denny proudly admitted in his statement. “That does not mean I can’t appreciate and enjoy more alternative and experimental music. I love going to ViCE concerts that expose me to new sounds, even if at the end of the day I’m going to go home and listen to Britney.”
To help foster students’ familiarity with the bands, ViCE will post a podcast and daily artist profiles on its website (viceisnice.org) in the days leading up to the event.
Looking back on the year, Denny says he is most proud of the effort ViCE members put into including the community.
“We had success with clothing and food drives, collaborations with other orgs, and the Civic Center show, among other efforts,” the outgoing director wrote. “We set the bar high for the future of ViCE in terms of the range of events that we are capable of and how they can contribute to student life.”
He added: “I’m so excited to see how ViCE will use this momentum and continue to grow and evolve to best meet the students’ entertainment needs.”
Marmet believes that ViCE’s outdoor music festival will be a perfect way to end the school year at Vassar: “It’s a combination of classes being over, great music, free food, amazing company—what more can you ask for?”
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